OLD PLANK ADVENTURES
Old Plank is a boutique luxury sailing charter & aquatic expedition company with gourmet 5 star cuisine. Founded by Captain and Chef Matthew Mancini and supported by a crew of lifelong watermen, we live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun.
We share a deep passion for quality food and the belief that everyone deserves the opportunity to experience the profound peace that comes from an alignment with the rhythms of the ocean. We’ve been fortunate enough to have been immersed in the ocean and gourmet foods and derive great joy from sharing these experiences.
We take our guests out into a safe sailing environment on the Santa Monica Bay or beyond, where they have the opportunity to experience first-hand the joy of sailing, the rhythm of the ocean and unique pairings of gourmet foods and wines in the sweet briny sea air.
We catch sunrises, bake in the mid-day sunshine and relax as the sunsets and the moon rises under starry skies. We play with seals, dolphins, and whales and when appropriate catch fresh seafood to enjoy al-fresco. We are living the Mediterranean dream in Southern California and sharing the experience with valued guests who leave the experience as family.
Our mission is to bring the Mediterranean lifestyle to Southern California’s ideal year round climate. We aspire to help our guest to truly relax and experience the self-healing that can occur when we slow down enough to catch up with our own selves.
Old Plank Sailing Adventures is dedicated to the pursuit of genuine happiness. Curating a safe, healing environment where guests feel comfortable, appreciated and connected with nature. The oceans can help to facilitate a deep state of relaxation for the healing of emotional wounds, so you can rejuvenate while enjoying creative foods in a soothing sailing environment.
Join us for an romantic sunset sail or a week-long island adventure complete with personal chef, massage therapist, island tour guide, and a variety of water toys including kayaks, paddle boards and high performance jetski’s.
We never consolidate groups. Book a truly private sail aboard our luxury monohull sailing yacht, especially for you and your loved ones. From an array of experiences from the therapeutic morning to the romantic sunset sail, for couples up to 12 passengers aboard a luxury yacht, we cater to discerning clientele who appreciate the exclusivity and intimacy afforded by a private, captained, sailing yacht.
Experience dinning alfresco with white table cloth in the helm of the yacht slipped in front of beautifully lit up Burton Chase Park or moored off the shoreline of Santa Catalina Island. Cuoco Mancini will take you through creative fusions from his Italian childhood, and professional career working in many fine dinning restaurants. Influenced by his grandmother who spent days hand-rolling pasta and homemade Italian pastries. You can opt to include a 5 star dinning experience prepared by Cuoco Mancini to any sail.
A genuine California Adventure awaits just off shore in the still undeveloped and pristine environment of the local Channel Islands including Santa Catalina, just 37 nautical miles from our port in Marina del Rey. Fishing, snorkeling, lobstering, kayaking, mountain biking and hiking await your adventurous spirit with memories to last a lifetime. Book a 3 or 4 day adventure to the crystal clear waters of Catalina with a professionally Captained private sailing yacht, private chef and island tour guide.
Fly across the open ocean with your friends on a brand new 2017 SEADOO personal water craft. With the fastest and most luxurious personal water craft on the market, you can fly across Santa Monica bay and back in under two hours. Join Captain Mancini as part of a guided tour in the Santa Monica Bay to Malibu, Palos Verdes, Catalina or beyond. Where ever we cruise our Seadoos will get you there fast! This excursion has unclose and personal encounters with the California Sea lions, dolphins and grey whales!
Cruise on the Captain’s Dinghy from Marina del Rey to his secret lobster spots in the Santa Monica Bay. Leave right after sunset and make our way under the stars and the moonlight as you learn how to bait, and drop traps to catch the noctural Pacific Lobsters, Dungeness and Soft Shell crabs. Whatever we catch is yours to take home!
Get comfortable on the bow or helm, as we swing the boom and hoist the main to project your favorite movie, or television show on the ship’s main sail.
USCG Licensed and experienced Captain and crew are available at your disposal if you need help delivering your yacht to any location. Old Plank is here to assist you and fulfill any delivery needs you may have.
Looking for more space than a hotel room? We have you covered with our Luxury Corporate Housing. Starting at $175.00 per night, we can host you in one of our private corporate luxury condos or houses. For more information, scroll down to the Works section below and click on the Corporate Housing Tile.
Fly across the ocean on 2018-2021 Seadoo's. We offer a variety of guided personal water craft (PWC) adventures onboard the most luxurious jetskis on the market. Weather your are a beginner, experienced, or expert rider we have the expedition that will calm your adventurous soul! For you beginner and intermediate riders whom are wildlife enthusiast, join us for the two or three hour Wildlife Seascape excursions, where you can get up close and personal with some of the most incredible animals of the Pacific Ocean. Including Pelicans, Sea Lions, Dolphins and Whales! For you intermediate and expert riders looking for an adventure to last a lifetime, join me on the Paradise Please or Island Seascape packages for a half day adventure up to Paradise Cove in Malibu, or a full day to Avalon or Two Harbors on Santa Catalina Island! Fly across the ocean at high speeds, get up and personal with incredible wild life, and get the ultimate thrill of anchoring and swimming into the beach with daypacks, to enjoy a relaxing lunch in the prestine sands of Malibu or Catalina Island. Captain Mancini will be fully equipped with underwater GoPros and ariel drones to give you some epic footage for your own social media!
Old Plank offers only luxury private sailing adventures daily for morning, afternoon, sunset or moonlight with reservations only. (Time slots change throughout the year depending on daylight savings hours)
In addition, Captain Mancini is available for hire to deliver any type of Vessel up to 100 Tonnage. With over 5,000 delivery hours logged, Captain Mancini has delivered many yachts up and down the Pacific, Atlantic, and European Mediterranean coastlines.
Captain Mancini offers private gourmet sailing charters and epic aquatic expeditions to the Channel Islands and beyond. Just 37 nautical miles from Marina del Rey, lies Santa Catalina. Captain Mancini will guide you on an epic adventure, preparing gourmet foods, sharing stories, and getting you up close, for incredible wildlife encounters. No matter what tickles your soul, Captain Mancini will guide you as Cruising World Magazine published “An adventures of a life time”! Once we arrive to the Island, whether anchored, moored, or slipped, Captain Mancini will be there to prepare gourmet meals, accompany you for dinner, or guide you on hiking trails for you to engulf some of the most beautiful and breathtaking views of the island. With a combination of options for hotel accommodations, Air B&B’s, hostels, beach camping, or prefer to be home by sunset, Captain will communicate directly with you to customize the most incredible seascape adventure imaginable.
Whether you'd like to order à la carte or a five course farm to cockpit experience, using some of the finest ingredients sourced from boutique wild-caught fisheries and farmers markets, we can intrigue your palate. Captain Mancini will preset you with a creative experience of fine foods created from his traveling, family, and fine dining hospitality experiences. He takes a lot of pride sharing sustainable foods he endures from his direct relationship with Omega Blue, whom have partnered with artisanal sources, both farmers and fishers, providing the purest, most nutritious seafood on the eastern pacific coast. Pairing you with fine wines, from around the world, and giving you an intimate white table cloth and up close viewing of the galley, while he cooks right in front of you table side! Captain Mancini will also share some gourmet deserts from his Italian childhood and his small batch roast from his coffee beans, grown in the coffee triangle of Pereira and Manizales, Columbia.
Add to any Sunset Sail for $125 per plate
The perfect combination of excitement and relaxation. This Adventure starts after sunset as we motor through the Marina to the Captain's secret lobster spots. There, Captain will teach you how to bait, drop, and set the lobster cages for Pacific Spiny Lobsters, Dungeness and Soft Shell Crabs! Hey, he may even share a few tricks up his sleeve. Enjoy the gentle movements of the moonlighted sea as we kick our feet up and relax in the captain's dinghy as we wait for our dinner!
COMING SOON!
We are purest at heart. Classic monohull sailing aboard a vintage sailing yacht is an incomparable experience. Sail aboard a luxurious modified Islander 36 redesigned and refitted by Captain Mancini. We're also big fans of the adage, "use the right tool for the job", and when it come to speed at sea, nothing beats our 2018-20021 SEADOOs. So whatever your pleasure, we're got the toys to accommodate your interest. Our Primary Sailing yacht is PRIMA STELLA. A modernized vintage luxury sailing monohull, manufactured by Island Yachts in Costa Mesa in 1976. The Hull was designed by sailing legend Alan Gurney and redesigned in 2021 by Captain Mancini with exterior synthetic teak imported from Norway, an updated galley with glass teak bright works, modernized helm, state of the art underwater and exterior smart lighting displays, and modernized rigging designs. Prima Stella is a classic Islander 36 cruising / racing vessel at heart, capable for Bluewater sailing and built and rigged to circumnavigate around the world. With the displacement at 1500 gross tonnage, Prima Stella delivers stability in the sea with its fin keel and skeg rudder, while traveling up to a respectable 8 knots for its heavy displacement. The Islander 36 was an award winning design for its class and continues to be a choice of many avid cruising sailors. When you sail aboard Prima Stella you will surely enjoy and understand the luxury and classy feeling while under sail.
Producing a project? We have the perfect location for you! From a variety of locations including docks to shoot on, or a vessel to capture the ultimate sailing shot, Captain Mancini has the toys and locations to help bring your project to fruition! $350 image location fee We regularly work with local and international production companies seeking sailboats and seadoos for film, television and photoshoots. Captain Mancini is accredited on IMDB with credits including FYI network’s show “Arranged”, and many commercials and music videos produced by Born Ready Films, and American Aircraft Productions. He has also wrote and produced and award winning short film Mercy-Less. Captain Mancini attended Columbia Film school, where he studied screenwriting and producing. He has also appeared on NCIS, and the films, He's just not that in to you, and Yes Man. Captain Mancini continues his acting training of "The Method" at, Friends and Artists Studios, in Toluca Lake, CA.
COMING SOON!
Coming Soon!
Matthew Mancini
CEO / Captain / Chef
A mid-westerner at heart, Matthew grew up on the lakes of Ohio, but always dreamed of the Open Sea. At the age of 20 he moved to Los Angeles to study film before making his first professional short film and appearing in a few Television series. The dream to sail the Pacific Ocean is still very much a driving motivation for Matthew who intends to venture around the world via sail power. Recently, Matthew has sailed from Napoli, Italy down the Amalfi Coast to Salerno, enjoying the incredible rustic and Mediterranean towns of Praiano, Conca dei Marini, Furore, Amalfi, and the Island of Capri! Matthew is a professional sailor and a licensed USCG Captain carrying a USCG Merchant Mariner 100 ton masters credential and is endorsed for coastwise sailing charter. He also spent 10 years working in some of Los Angeles's finest and most exquisite fine dinning restaurants, and loves to share the cuisines of his experiences from his Italian heritage, and from notable chefs he has learned from along the way.
Andi
COO / Skipper / Clean up Crew
Andi is a devoted Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier that loves the open seas, sneaking a few hors d'oeuvres and offering an occasional complementary on the ship pedicure. No matter how quiet she is, she can be found in the first mate chambers of the quarter-birth. Andi has lived aboard for 13+ years and has logged hundreds of hours sailing, jet skiing, paddle boarding and afloat in the captains life boat. She is a certified service animal with the United States Service Dog Registry and loves to spend her off duty hours at the Hollywood Reservoir Park and the City of Hope Hospital. She is also Go-Pro Equipped! The past year Andi has been diagnosed with glaucoma but that won’t slow her down! Check out this senior adventurer on instagram!
Seeking Employment?
INTERN
Think you are a water loving seaman or sealady? Join our team by clicking on the "employment" page and send us your resume. Your mug shot could be here soon!
Marina del Rey & Santa Monica Bay Drone footage from CAPTAIN MANCINI on Vimeo. (COMING SOON!)
Take a short video tour of Marina del Rey.
Producer: Matthew Mancini
Director of Photography, Editor: Captain Mancini
Executive Producer: Captain Mancini
Still Photography: GO PRO INC.
Created by Old Plank Adventures, LLC
(http://www.oldplankproductions.com)
Looking for a creative date night or family night with the kids? I have the perfect idea for you! Completely private, intimate, and Gourmet! [NEW] CAPTAIN’S MOVIE NIGHT!!
Enjoy your favorite old or new release movie or tv show projected on the ships sails. Click below to converse with the Captain!